The concept of a "guardian angel" keeping watch over every human being is deeply ingrained in the Judeo-Christian heritage. This invention is intended to translate the abstract concept of a "guardian angel" into an actual physical embodiment which children can see, play with, and wear on their shoulders to "keep watch" over them.
The prior art is replete with both design and utility patents directed to dolls and doll-like figures, including many which are intended to simulate angels. For example, the following U.S. patents show dolls having wing spans of various types: D-56,667; D-58,300; and D-255,476. U.S. Pat. No. D-286,422 shows a doll having both wings and a halo. In addition, there are numerous patents directed to doll-like figurines with wings intended, for example, as Christmas tree ornaments. Some examples of these patents include: D-128,039; D-219,925; D-193,995; D-216,642 and 2,312,286.
The prior art further shows dolls in which one or more of the doll's limbs or extremities is capable of at least limited movement, such as rotation or bending, to better simulate a human being or animal. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,189,585 (Kruse) shows a relatively simple such mechanism in which in- ternal wound wire coils restrain movement except at the doll's joints (elbows, knees, hips, etc.) where straight wire segments permit limited bending and twisting. In U.S. Pat. No. 1,446,466 (Huth), the doll is constructed around a skeleton-like frame made of lead or a similarly flexible metal capable of bending back and forth without breaking. Various types of ball and socket joints are also well-known in the art of doll construction.
It is also known in the prior art to construct dolls having interlocking loop type fasteners, such as "Velcro" (Reg. TM), for fastening various extremities to one another or to other objects, such as a ball, which have mating loop fasteners thereon. U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,292 (Hills), for example, shows a manipulatable toy puppet which is partially supported on the torso of the puppeteer with "Velcro"-type loop fasteners at the ends of the puppet's arms. The puppet's arms can thereby be detachably secured across one shoulder of the puppeteer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,751 (Schiavo et al.) shows a human-like doll with a patch of interlocking loop fasteners in each palm of its hands to hold a pen with a mating patch of loop fasteners on the barrel of the pen. This patent further shows doll clothing including mating patches of loop fasteners for securing the clothing in place.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,498,613 (Donahue) shows an adjustable shoulder strap with "Velcro"-type loop fasteners on the ends which is designed to help a parent support a nursing bottle for an infant. Instead of supporting a nursing bottle, in other embodiments the Donahue shoulder strap can be used to support a toy animal or a pacifier to free both the parent's hands without danger that the supported object will fall to the ground and thereby become contaminated.
All of the aforementioned prior art patents are incorporated herein by reference. None of these various patents, however, teaches the invention of a shoulder-supported guardian angel doll as described hereinafter.